The Four Horsemen of Tokyo3
by Brax The Great
Summary: The Super Women of Tokyo-3 have come to believe, rather foolishly, that they have finally defeated the villians that have plagued them and those they care about. They are about to learn what "villian" really means.
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: **__**NGE is owned by Gainax and Production IG. Me no own, so you no sue!**_

_**Author's Notes**__**: Ladies and Gentlemen, with express permission from OrionPax09 and Mike313, the Superwomen of Eva will be making guest appearances and even teaming up. Now, for something…Sinister!!**_

_Gendo Ikari was having a terrible Monday morning. After his Instrumentality scenario had been crushed – along with the first Angel, Adam – by the Nephilim-esque super woman known as Spirit, he had been thrown into the Super Maximum Prison at The Hague. With Adam's destruction, he was now suffering a sort of bizarre withdraw after being exposed to Adam's energies for as long as he had. Add into the fact that some of Adam's DNA was still somehow prevalent in his system; his body was tearing itself apart just trying to rid itself of the no-longer-welcome genome. _

_He knew of a method for curing himself, but that back-stabbing bitch Ritsuko Akagi kept denying him access to his research. Add to his troubles, he had to contend with all the other super women that kept popping up, including his own creation Rei Ayanami who was turned into the Silver Surfer by the Second Angel Lillith and Misato Katsuragi a.k.a. She-Hulk, among many others who shall deserve extensive ass-raping by Satan himself when they finally drop dead, and never mind that winged wench named Spirit._

_He kept thinking that those times couldn't possibly get worse, but every time he did, some new super-powered oestrogen farm would show up and derail his plans even more than the previous one did. __'I just couldn't win'_, Gendo thought dejectedly to himself as the latest convulsion fits began to twist his body in agony.

He braced himself for the pain, but instead of ripping agony, he felt a bizarre absence of it, and every other kind of physical discomfort for that matter. All that remained was blissful relief, a sense of renewed strength, and a feeling of vigour he hadn't felt since he was a teenager. He sat ramrod straight as he was shocked by the wondrous comfort he felt in his body, and was just about to ask aloud, "What's going on?" when a voice like the roaring sea came from everywhere all at once, chuckling at his astonishment and surprise.

"_**You know, I will never understand humans and their inability to grasp the obvious. To answer your question, child, I am undoing the damage that Adam's errant genetic material was causing, as well as psychically dampening your pain receptors. This is all for one single reason; I want you to work for me, and I wanted to make a good first impression as your new employer. How am I doing?"**_

Gendo Ikari was, quite literally, knocked flat to the floor by the sheer power of the voice, and even pressed down on like someone had sat on him. He at first thought that the voice was a figment of his minds imagination, or even the first signs of a complete mental break-down. He then realized that figments of your imagination don't make physical pain go way, no matter how real they may seem.

At first completely stunned, but after what seemed like several minutes had passed, he managed to collect himself, and with an uncomfortable amount of nervousness that even he couldn't mask, and wondering if he hadn't completely flown off the deep end, he ventured, "Uhm, you're doing………great?"

He wondered if the bizarre but overwhelmingly powerful presence would be offended, amused, or simply satisfied by his uncertain reply. He received his answer in the form of a rather emphatic 'whoop' of laughter that made Ikari hit the ceiling, literally. After rediscovering which end of himself was his head, he glared up at the ceiling, wondering if he should just start acting like a psycho and get moved to a different cell?

"_**Sorry about that; I keep forgetting about the whole 'power of my voice'. This is why I should have just sent a postcard"**_

"This whole psychic voice shtick would have been giving me a headache right now, but since you shut off my pain receptors, it's just getting plain annoying. Quit it already, you fruit cake, and you got yourself a deal", Gendo snarled as he stood to his feet. He instantly regretted it as he was floored again, shoved against the wall by the same invisible force, and then pushed up the wall and against the ceiling. The voice returned, and it did not sound the slightest bit amused.

"_**Do not ever try to talk smack with me, or you're the world's first all meat guacamole. I do not mind a bit of kidding around, but do not EVER address me that way again, clear?"**_

As Gendo struggled against the ghostly force, he managed to choke out, "I-I a-a-apologize f-for m-my disrespect". He was dropped like a bad habit and left gasping for air. As he gingerly rubbed his throat with his left hand, he noticed something odd: "Why is my skin turning white?" Even as he spoke, Gendo Ikari's skin was steadily losing pigmentation, going from a tanned complexion to a chalky white that would make an albino positively look African American by comparison. He also noticed that his nails had now turned perfectly black and were growing longer, not to mention sharpening into razor points.

When he stood up, he also noticed that he was taller than he was a moment ago, and getting bigger, but not in the way that the She-Hulk got bigger; it was much slower, more controlled and restrained. He soon stopped growing, but now came close to topping seven feet, and after checking the mirror above the sink in his cell, realized he had a Herculean physique to match the new height………and a tattoo.

"Fuck me!" Ikari swore in shock as he jumped back from his newly-ghoulish reflection

A blood red diamond centered his forehead, touching the widow's peak his hairline now sported. The only thing he actually found distasteful were his eyes; the sclera had turned completely red, the iris had changed to an eerie shade of blue, and he had elliptical pupils, giving him a piercing gaze. Another new feature was that all of Ikari's teeth ended in sharp points, his canines now long fangs.

Ikari fisted his hands and was about to punch the mirror when he noticed another surprising new feature: his hands were glowing. The light blue glow they gave off was rather harsh to Ikari's eyes. The presence spoke again.

"_**A new form, new identity, and some very useful talents. Partial shape-shifting, vast psychic power almost comparable to my own, regenerative powers these so-called 'Angels' would have been envious of, but without the glaring weak point of the S2 core, and of course, phased plasma burst discharge. **_

"_**From this point on, you will never age, never tire, and have an immune system that adapts to ever threat, no matter what contagions may attack you, whether virus, bacteria, prion, organic poison, or man-made pathogen. Finally, to you, I bequeath my experiences and the limitless scientific knowledge at my disposal, as well as the faculties to full maximize what I grant you without becoming overwhelmed by what I grant. Now you are no longer human, but something so much more, as well as being some rather………"**_

The presence paused for a moment as it considered its newest servant. Black claws and fangs, glowing pools of red horror for eyes, an imposing physique and stature, and a refreshingly cold demeanour that would make the most sinister villain envious………Of course.__How obvious.

"_**From this point forward, I dub thee………"**_

The person formerly known as Gendo Ikari inhaled deeply as one last change took place. His prison uniform clothing disintegrated, but as it did, a comfortably warm glob of liquid metal seemed to slide out of thin air and cling to his skin, sliding over his skin and soon covering his whole body, save for his head. The texture suddenly changed to something like leather, but yet alien simultaneously, alive with a pulse and life all its own.

He could feel the material encase his feet and harden into complete boots; form fitting pants, complete with equally form fitting metal platting from knee to hip, connected to dark red belt with a silvery diamond shaped buckle. His torso was encased in an armoured jacket adorned with a high and wide, angular collar, his back draped in arching metals ribbons that twitched and flexed like an animal waiting to pounce. The whole ensemble shifted liberally through the entire spectrum of colors like it was trying to pick a favourite color, and finally settled on a shadowy royal blue.

Even his mind began to change, expand and evolve in a rush of images, memories, knowledge and experiences that would have made the old men at SEELE take many a step back away at the sheer scope and magnitude of it all. The Presence spoke his new name with a soft reverence.

"_**Mr. Sinister" **_

The newly dubbed Mr. Sinister roared like a lion, with just as much volume. He walked right up to the door and punched it for all he was worth; the heavy metal door was first caved in, almost falling right off its hinges, then vaporized as furious blue-green energy exploded from Sinister's hand. He calmly strode out off his former room and walked toward his former subordinates cell, and mischievously thought about the righteous scare his was going to give that far-too-nice senile old goat. He felt the presence one last time before beginning his escape.

"_**Well, 'Mr. Sinister', what say you?"**_

"I'm in………my Master. If I may be so bold, My Master, what is your name?" Sinister spoke aloud as the first wave of guards tried to gang up on him.

"_**My name, My servant, reflects my goals of ending one world, so to make way for a better one to follow. My name is………Apocalypse".**_

Mr. Sinister smiled a smile full of glistening white, razor sharp teeth, even as he snapped bones like twigs and boiled flesh from bone. As Sinister thought about the future, he began to think about two particular women with remarkable abilities who were going to suffer quite terribly when he got back to Japan. He already had Akagi's fate set in stone, which included a meeting with several very big hooks, acids of many a variety, and some flammable liquids. For Spirit, well, by the time he was done, there'd be a new fast-food sensation; tempura battered Nephilum wings, because that would be the only thing left of that little bitch when he finished with her.

"I wonder, My Master, if the Four Horsemen are with you, or do I have to go fetch them?" Sinister inquired, referring to the embodiments of disease, famine, war and death spoken of in the book of Revelation. He already knew the answer, even without a response from Apocalypse. He would have to create them, and he already had a fair idea of who be each Horseman. But first he needed to practice creating super beings from ordinary humans; that was, and still is one of Apocalypse's many talents, as he demonstrated when he altered Sinister into his current form.

When he reached Fuyutsuki's cell, he melted it open, and looked inside. He was happily surprised when he realized that apocalypse had made a similar offer to the former Sub-commander and he accepted. Sinister snorted as he figured out what would make the old man agree to serve Apocalypse. The being that used to be Kozo Fuyutsuki now stood even taller than Sinister himself, had huge ebony raven wings with spiky looking feathers, and was wearing a glistening white suit of medievally styled armour decorated with images of death, but oddly enough, he also wore a rather modern leather trench coat over the armour.

He wore an open faced helmet that was quite ornate, but the face it revealed was not beautiful in any sense of the word, not even slightly attractive; in fact, it was quite ghoulish. He had no nose to speak of, simple a triangular hole where his nose should have been, sunken cheeks with pronounced cheek bones, a complete absence of pigments, and glowing ice-blue eyes laid in sunken sockets, plus no hair of any kind that Sinister could see. The voice that came from the being that had once been Sinister's old human mentor could only be described as other worldly.

"**One word about the face, and your six feet under, Skippy".**

Sinister only nodded, an easy smile gracing his own vampirish face. He replied only, "No wisecracks, Sensei. So, do you have a new name to fit the new face?"

"**My name is now Soul Taker, and I loathe it".**

"Well I rather like it. So, what can you do, anyway?"

Soul Taker answered simply by placing his hand on Sinister's shoulder, and with a whisp of a thought, they disappeared from the Hague, and were instantly teleported back to Japan, within Nerv headquarters itself. In particular, they appeared within terminal Dogma, within Lilith's camber. Sinister looked at his former mentor, and smiled warmly; well, as warmly as someone named 'Mr. Sinister' could, and happily swore, "Hot Damn. Now, Lets make us the first Horseman".

As he said these words, huge pieces of alien looking equipment appeared as though sliding out of shadows and thin air, and began melding themselves to the walls like they were made of liquid metal, as well as connecting with the bases power systems and physically hacking into the computer systems hidden in the walls. Some pieces of equipment looked like they belonged in an automobile manufacturing plant; some pieces of equipment looked like twisted versions of devices you'd see in various biological and medical science labs, and some of the equipment were both alien and wicked looking in equal parts. Some merged with the walls, some sank into the vast pool of LCL beneath the Second Angel and melded into the bottom of the LCL pool, and some seemed to arrange themselves hither and dither.

The equipment roared to life, and as screens glowed to life, what appeared to be start-up menus scrolled rapidly through to application screens. The language displayed on the screens was not of this world, but Sinister understood it as though he were reading his native Japanese. Large panels opened up in the equipment that had situated themselves near the door and slid outward, revealing work stations from which to control the equipment.

A massive machine centered on the ceiling glided over to the door on a track and stopped above Lilith, and with numerous and wicked looking tool arms, began cutting her down from her cross and inserting painful looking implements into her body. He and Soul Taker each manned their own individual stations at the machines and began to collect what would be the first Horseman, Pestilence.

As they began their work, the Second Angel felt a swell of dread in the pit of her heart as she realized who would become Pestilence, even as the devilish contraptions began to connect to her central nervous system and vital organs. Even as she began to thrash in agony, the robotic arms holding her with cold vice-like grips.

"Please, Not him. Not THAT one. Let him rest, I beg of you!!"

As Lilith watched in horror as Sinister and Soul taker worked, and a swirling whirl-pool of glowing LCL begin to form beneath her, she heard a powerful voice in her mind that she had not heard in many, many millennia, and had hoped to never hear again. She felt an icy aura of anger fall on her that seemed to wash away her physical pain, but instilled in her an emotional agony that left her as though broken hearted, and knew who it was immediately.

"_**Hello again, My disobedient child".**_

"Father".

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**Author's Notes: **I hope everybody gets a kick out of this one. As you can see, my version of Apocalypse is a fair bit different than Marvel's, but I thought it would be a fun change. Please, read and review! Ideas, thoughts, criticisms, flames, what have you!


	2. The Reasons Why

**Disclaimer: ****Neon Genesis Evangelion and all related characters belong to Production IG and Gainax Studios. All Marvel Comics character names and likeness belong to Marvel, and the Eva-verse versions thereof belong to Mike313, OrionPax09, The Rei-Fan, ArchDruid-Sephiroth, and everybody else who contributed to this new universe. Excelsior!**

**Author's Notes: ****Hey everybody! Thank you to everybody who reviewed so far; I didn't think I get so many so quick. Wow! This chapter is not only the introduction of the first of the Horsemen, but also an explanation as to why Gendo just jumped in with Apocalypse, and more importantly, why Kozo decided to jump in at all. I hope you all enjoy, and get a sense of satisfaction, if not enjoyment from my little tale. Now, ride on, Horsemen!**

'_Why in the world did I make this goddamn Faustian bargain anyway?!' _Thought the person who had once been Kozo Fuyutsuki, and was now the ghoulish super human Soul Taker, _'Just look at me! I look like Death's gay brother!' _Soul Taker was looking at himself in a free-floating full length mirror that the machines Apocalypse had sent over had fashioned for him. The machines did it not because he had specifically ordered it, but simply because he was curious about his new appearance.

The machines had literally read his mind and made the mirror in a space of seconds, and the newly minted mirror flew out a machine whose circular face was a shimmering pool of liquid metal surrounded by a baker dozen mechanized arms connected to a heavy metal ring that rimmed the metallic pool. He was amazed at the work the other worldly machines could do, but soon wished that weren't quite so good at it when he saw his own reflection. He jumped back, profoundly startled, at first thinking the Grim Reaper had finally decided to get off his bony ass and take his soul, but he sadly came to realize that he was looking at his own reflection in the new mirror, all seven feet and two inches of it. He wore suit of glossy white armour that was both remarkably futuristic, but at the same time medieval, in design style and construction. Carved images of lost souls and death were everywhere, even the golden edge work on each individual plate of armour. He could see glowing circuits in places not covered in plate, and hear the soft cat-like purr of delicate yet power machinery within. Over the armoured suit he wore a billowy white trench coat that scraped the floor as he walked or floated as though a gentle breeze were lifting it when no wind of any kind was present.

From his back, out through slots in his coat and armoured joints on the shoulder blades of his armour, rose a pair of enormous black raven-like wings; when spread fully, their span was at least twenty-five to thirty feet. All of that was fine, if a bit ostentatious, but what made him cringe was the skull-like face he now wore. He had no nose to speak of, only a triangular hole where it should be. His cheeks were sunken, and those bones were painfully pronounced. Soul Taker still had his lips, but they were very thin but still covered his teeth and came together. His new eyes were constantly glowing an icy shade of blue which matched the color of their sclera. Colorless pupils and scant slits complete the frightening structures. They were also sunken in midnight black flesh in the sockets, making Soul Taker's overall appearance truly horrific, if not overdone.

He wondered to himself again and again why he would even have made such a bargain in the first place, considering his current circumstances. He had stood by while his former pupil had wronged the entire world, had even helped him, in fact, and had been truly content with being punished for it, knowing that he'd spend the rest of his life behind bars, because the world would be safe from Gendo and the SEELE council's insane ambitions to initiate a controlled version of Third Impact. Each had there own plans for Third Impact; Gendo wanted to use it to retrieve his beloved wife from the depths of Eva-01's core. Either would have spelled the end for humanity, and left the planet as devoid of life as a graveyard. He was truly glad there were those who stood against the darkness, but now they were going to face a power that had waited a long time for mankind to get this far, for whatever reasons. Each and every one of those reason were probably horrible, and that was what allowed Soul taker to answer his own question.

He glanced over to his former pupil, now reborn as the inhuman monster 'Mr. Sinister'. he was floating above the door, just staring at the Second Angel, The mother of Humanity, Lilith herself, smirking like an idiot. If Sinister was going to Apocalypses certified super-powered attack dog, then Soul Taker would be the super-powered leash. When apocalypse had approached him with promises of power, Kozo had simply sat back and tried to find his place in the copy of Sun Tzu's 'Art of War' he was reading. Apocalypse quickly got his attention when he mention Gendo's new role.

As The Soul Taker, it would be his duty to keep Sinister from going off on his own and running amuck. He was to keep Sinister on track, and on schedule. If any divergence was discovered, then Soul Taker would reduce Sinister to a primordial soup by dis-incorporating his AT field. Something that could either happen thanks to A) one of Soul Taker's abilities or B) a currently unidentified super woman. Sinister had a wickedly elegant self-destruct mechanism encoded into his DNA; the only thing that would undo the mechanism would be Apocalypses version of Third Impact, which would turn ten percent of the world's population into super-humans, and in the rest mutation that would kill them outright, or, in the lucky, the potential for super-human transformation; if they don't change, then the potential will be passed onto their children, and their children's children, and so on.

In other words, Kozo had agreed to become Soul Taker so to keep Sinister from going on a bloody rampage, to limit civilian casualties as much as possibly, and maybe, just maybe, dump a bucket of monkey wrenches into everybody's plans, and if he was really lucky, he could pull off a minor miracle and get out of this whole evil mess with his soul still intact; if he had any left to salvage, that is. He thought about this as he checked the readings on the machines to see if the first horseman was ready to go yet. The machine signalled that while collection of the remains and reconstruction of whom would become the Horseman Pestilence was complete, the actual transformation and armouring was still on-going, and would be complete in several minutes; Not that He, personally, cared.

What he was worried most about was Sinister's apparent fervour for Apocalypses plan.

'_What is going through your twisted mind, Ikari, that has you in such a good mood? You can't really be so shallow as to help Apocalypse all for the sake of being immune to one little super woman's power, are you?! What is really going on?'_

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'_My Yui lives again!'_

This was the single thought that occupied Sinister's mind at the moment. Apocalypse had told him, through visions and memories, that Yui Ikari had somehow rescued herself from Eva-01's core, and in the process of doing so, became a super human herself.

'_The Phoenix. What a perfect name for you, my darling. You have risen from beyond, and have become the Goddess you always deserved to be'. _To say that Sinister was pleased would be like saying that the Pope was somewhat religious. He was psychically viewing a video caption of Yui emerging from Unit-01 during the fight with the Thirteenth Angel. She was engulfed in a fiery aura that took on the form of a glorious bird like in the myths of old. She looked even more beautiful than Sinister remembered, if such a thing were possible. She had fallen back to Earth while Spirit had been flame broiling the Thirteenth Angel, and was almost assimilated herself for her troubles. Sadly, if He went came anywhere near his darling Yui, her bio-energy would reduce him to a puddle, no thanks to Apocalypses tinkering.

He swore than he would help Apocalypse bring about his global evolution, if only for the chance to touch his beloved again. He also realized that after all he done, Yui would probably melt him to goo just because he had done so many terrible things. He realized that no amount of rationalizing would convince her to spare him, and as Mr. Sinister, he also now realized that Yui was far better at relating to people than he ever was, one of the reasons for his version of Third Impact. He had thought that every other person was simple offal to cast away into the ether, but now he realized his own inadequacy. His FORMER inadequacy. He would make sure that the human race survived, and more to the point, that it would rise to heights the gods of old would be envious of, whether by Apocalypses designs or his own.

But how could he improve humanity if he couldn't relate to it. With his face like it was now, he'd probably incite a few modern day witch hunts or five. He simply focused his mind, and in the time it takes to open and close your eyes, he looked as an ordinary human man, except he had chosen a face of European decent instead of Asian to present to the world at large. He had gone for a elegant English face, and had even to chosen a new name to go with his other face.

"**Now what have you had done to yourself, Ikari?"**

Sinister turned to his former mentor and spoke, in perfect English, and with an accent even, "My dear teacher, my name, or should I say, my new name while I wear this face, is Essex. Nathaniel Essex, if you please". With a simple gesture, "Nathaniel Essex" lowered himself to the floor and strode to the LCL factory door. He waved his hand like he was waving hello, and the door slide open with a prolonged groan and roar. He strode through the partially opened door and began to whistle a merry tune. It was the British national anthem, of all things. He spun on his heal, and, walking backwards, merrily called out, "Now don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

Soul Taker could have simply swore after him, or made some sarcastic comment, but simply decided to plop down on a French sofa the manufacturing machine had made and finish reading his book from earlier. The Second Angel now resided in an enormous, green fluid filled cylinder, with all manner of gadgetry stuck in her. She cocked her head at Soul Taker, and sourly wished that the poor man could simply find some peace in this world. The two only bright spots in this whole sick debacle. The other one was the fact that she was physically whole again, and she was even in the process of getting her sexual characteristics back. She'd be a lady again! Now if only she were human sized………

"_Now, sweet Lilith, I think your just a tad bit too old for Soul Taker, though I can see the attraction. He is quite the noble soul"_. Lilith almost jumped in her tank as the voice popped into her mind, but soon felt a great wave of mixed emotion as the owner looked up at her from the LCL pool, luminous green eyes staring at her. She felt both joy and sadness. She felt joy that the child she could see as her 'step son' was alive again , but also profound sadness when remembering what his new purpose in life was.

"_I wish for better days, as well, mother, but it seems I have no choice in the matter. I'll try to keep Shinji and Rei out of it, if I can"._

The Second Angel only nodded her head weakly. She would weep bitter tears if she still had tear ducts. She knew that the young man taking shape in the LCL pool really did care for Shinji, quite a lot in fact, and even somewhat his friends and Rei Ayanami. She only prayed that he would be merciful to the others.

"_A Horseman does not show mercy, for he knows not what that is. When I face the super women, they will all die. When I face Rei, it will simply be a swift death, that is all. Pestilence simply does as it always has, and never pauses to consider. You, of all people, should know that"._

Lilith wanted to scream in dismay as the owner of the psychic voice began to emerge from the LCL. He was sheathed in menacing looking powered armour like Soul Taker wore, except instead of visions of death, his armour, a sickly green-grey mix, was decorated with carved images and decorative pieces emulating poisonous animals, or body parts of said animals. He had a wicked-looking robotic scorpion tail mounted in the middle of his back that swished back and forth like a dog wagging its tail excitedly. He had four pairs of long, bony arms, with each fore-arm decorated with iron spikes, like-wise for his shins.

His armour had design elements that made Soul Taker think of medieval armor, but with a distinctly fiend and wicked design; all jagged and curving sharp edges, made of numerous interlocking plates like an insects carapace; his helmet was elongated like a saurian's head, had a sweeping metal fan around the base as a neck guard, and was lined down the middle with more iron spikes, completed with a mouth piece in two parts that would make a person think of huge insect mandibles which covered almost all of the newcomers face except for his eerily glowing green eyes. He walked across the surface of the LCL pool like it was a solid object until he reached its edge and stepped onto the solid metal walkway with a rather unpronounced clink and clatter of metal, despite him being over eight feet tall.

As he walked, wispy strands of something akin to spider silk filtered out from vents in the arms and shoulder of the suit, and seemed to begin weaving themselves into something. With an electric crackle of energy and a ripple of light, what remained was a long tanned silk cape that the armoured fiend draped around himself like a toga. He bowed a sweeping bow to Soul Taker who looked up from his book and stared with an almost disinterested manner at the newcomer.

"**Welcome back to the world of the living………"** Soul Taker began so as not appear rude, but stopped as he didn't know if the newly minted Horseman would keep his original name, or would identify himself with his new identity. The First Horseman regarded the skull faced super human with mock hurt, but also with a good bit of playfulness when he replied, "My Lord Soul Taker, surely you know who I REALLY am?" And added a dramatic flourish at the second last word. Soul Taker heaved a sigh of non-amusement and said, "Alright………welcome back to world of the living, First Horseman Pestilence".

The first of Apocalypses Horsemen smiled behind his evil looking mask and sat down on another couch near to Soul Taker and smirked as he asked if Soul Taker was enjoying the book. Soul Taker heaved an exasperated sigh and simply ignored Pestilence, or at least he tried to. For the next couple of hours, Pestilence continued to ask Soul Taker questions of every kind, for every possible topic. Instead of being satisfied by each lazily delivered answer, he kept asking for a more elaborate answer than was given the first time. Both parties knew he was just being an ass, but where one was quickly losing patience, the other found profound amusement, and even giggled a bit at Soul Taker's mounting frustration.

"_Why me?" _Thought Soul Taker, who was very much inclined to turn the First Horseman into hamburger.

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While Soul Taker tried to read his book in peace, or something vaguely like peace, Mr. Sinister walked down the halls with a hop in his step, morphing his clothes into a regular maintenance uniform. He even materialized a work cap and placed it on his head backwards, then continued to whistle rather gaily as he thought about what he was going to do today.

"Now that I'm back, so to speak, lets see who I can screw with today", he whispered to himself. He was just walking by the executive offices when he noticed a name on one of the doors: Ritsuko Akagi. Sinister smiled a pearly white array of miniature knives and psychically picked the electronic lock on the door; another of Apocalypses gifts. Dr. Akagi wasn't there, but her work station was on, and test results from some experiment or other were displayed. Sinister quickly walked over to the computer, minimized the programs on screen and inserted a flash drive into one of the USB ports on the face of the computer. He uploaded several AI programs that would work his will while he played; they would issue false alarms, fake and alter sensor telemetry, randomly changing pass codes (while sending him the new ones), downloading classified material to ghost servers he had set up years ago, just in case he needed 'assurances" that SEELE would not stab him in the heart.

The AI programs would, most importantly, also allow him to take control of Nerv HQ as a whole after they finished decompressing and spread throughout the entire system. He would make it look like Akagi had been planning world conquest or something equally ridiculous since she started working at Nerv. All the while as She stewed in her own juices, he'd pretend to be a sympathetic ear and seduce her a second time, but when trial time came, he'd be the damning witness called to the stand. He was going to burn that traitorous whore without every physically harming her. Then he'd break her AGAIN by making it look like little Maya Ibuki was a willing accomplice, among 'other things'. The many rumours she and Maya were lesbian lovers would cease to be rumours, and everybody would think Maya assisted her 'Sempai' out of love, and was just as crazy.

"Two OR MORE super women for the price of one", Sinister smirked as he finished working. If he fabricated the right kind of evidence, Misato Katsuragi would come to believe that her old college friend had always been a villain, and had even been manipulating the other super women to achieve her goals. He had just clued up his hacking job and brought back up the test results that Akagi was going over when the women herself unlocked her door and entered her office, and nearly jumped out of her skin at the sight of the handsome European man sitting at her computer station, looking like the proverbial kid with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Excuse me, but who are you and how did you get into my Office?" Ritsuko asked, and in a tone of voice that, while it amused Sinister, he realized that if he smiled, the game would be somewhat ruined, so he faked a stutter and replied, "W-well, Dr. Akagi, we had reports of some jerk off dumping e-bombs into the system using old security codes that weren't decommissioned". Lame, the excuse was, but he hadn't thought to come up with one.

Akagi suddenly looked upset, but not because she had seen through the lame excuse. She cursed, "Christ, not again! Who keeps doing that?!" Sinister looked at her with a genuine look of surprise, but caught himself when she turned back to him. He responded, "I do apologize, Dr. Akagi, but this guy is a real pro. Anyway, I came up with this little program that blocks that garbage, as well as hacks the sender right back. It allows a person to find out who's pulling this nonsense, and nick this thing in the bud".

Akagi smiled a small, but genuinely amused smile. She never knew they had such a talented, not to mention handsome, programmer on staff. She sized him up discreetly, checking out the man. He had high cheek bones, an excellent complexion, stunning blue eyes, and a smile that was both roguish and charming, and yet sad at the same time. The one thing she didn't like about his appearance was that Amish reject beard of his; reminded her far too much of a certain bastard she tried to kill when she first received her spider powers from that mutated Rei clone. He was smiling like the Cheshire cat, at the moment though, and was in the middle of saying something.

"I beg your pardon? I'm sorry, I blanked out for a minute, you were saying something?" Akagi responded, quite nonplused with herself for getting distracted with that. The tech just smiled again and said, "No worries, Dr. Akagi. People say I have a voice that grates like nails on a chalk board, so they tend to filter it out anyway". Ritsuko looked genuinely hurt by his words, and softly said to him, "I think you have a lovely voice". The English tech chuckled lowly, got out of the seat and smiled warmly at the good doctor. He even got on one knee, took her hand gingerly and kissed it. He had removed his hat and had it against his chest, and with a small flourish got back to his feet, and said with a low but inviting growl, "and I think you are one of the most beautiful women on this planet".

He bent down as if he meant to kiss her, and Ritsuko found herself inexplicably drawn to him like-wise. Their lips were about to touch when a frigid chill ran up and back down Akagi's spine, followed by a painful blast of her new found spider-sense. The spider in her started screaming at her to either tear the man's throat out or get the hell out of that room. She almost jumped out of her skin; unfortunately her extra limbs did. Where she screamed in surprise as she felt herself change, the charming tech simply smiled like the cat that ate the canary.

She was just about to open a Dirac Sea and warp out of there, when she noticed his face again. It too, had changed. His skin was now a ghostly white, and his dark hair was perfectly glossy black. The tech's uniform disappeared and was replaced by an ensemble that was one part body armour, one part vampire chique. He had physically grown to almost seven feet in height, and had a physique Hercules would be proud of. The features that really got her heart pumping with fear were the demonic red eyes he had, and the blood red diamond tattoo centered on his fore head, which to her felt like an extra eye that was leering at her.

"Forgive me, My dear, but in my rudeness, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Mr. Sinister, a bit theatrical I know, but it suits, don't you think?" No matter how hard she tried, no matter how the spider within thrashed, she just make her treacherous body move. The vampire-like being who had revealed himself to her was suddenly right on top of her, his clawed hand gently cupping on side of her face. He spoke softly, but his voice carried a strength she couldn't hope to overcome. The sheer terror in her eyes made the wicked looking man, if that was what he actually was, smile all the more broadly.

"Ah, My sweet Ritsuko, I could end your life in ways that would break your soul, or leave you drifting up to heaven. For the immediate future, though, I simply have far too much to do. So, my dear, simply………forget".

Ritsuko tried to fight, to raise her hand and claw his face off, but she could resist this ghoulish man's commands, and felt her legs give way as she fell asleep standing up. Sinister caught her and gently placed her on the couch in her office and walked right out the door, but now before making a few 'additions' to his work. Sinister knew Apocalypse would question him about the changes, but they were something he could very possibly go along with. Besides, it never hurt to have an inside man, or woman, in this case. He morphed back into the human tech and, checking to make sure that no one was watching him, he snuck out of Ritsuko's office, invisible to the camera's thanks to his invasive AI's. He only had to worry about the odd naked eye.

Sinister was so sure he wasn't being observed, he never saw a pair or brown doe eyes peeking at him from around the corner. He adjusted his cap and walked away as Maya Ibuki came up from behind him. The mysterious tech whirled around and psychically knocked Maya out as well. He simply let her drop to the floor in an unceremonious heap and even had the gale to kick her in the ribs, breaking several of them. He took off at a jogging pace and slide into a waiting elevator, pushing aside a couple of bridge crew that had patiently been waiting.

"Hey, man, what the fuck's your problem?!" Shigeru Aoba swore at the abrasive man who had knocked him and Hyoga Makoto to the floor without even a word of apology or warning.

Hyoga massaged his aching head and joined in. "What an asshole! Damn technicians think they're some shit and run the whole show because they fix shit. If it breaks down, we can't do OUR jobs and these pricks get off on making us wait!"

Shigeru agreed emphatically, "Fuckin' A, man! Damn bastards! That's it, we're taking the stairs" . Hyoga wailed in protest at having to walk up more than fifty flights of stairs. Shigeru cuffed him on the back of the head and nodded in the direction of the nearest stairwell. As they began to walk, they each felt a bizarre electrical tingle across their skin. Before they had a chance to even begin to comprehend what was going on, they were hit with an excruciating blast of electrical energy. Both men didn't even have time to scream as they writhed in agony. When the electrical field abated, both men began to fall to the deck, but before they ever got close, simply faded away into the ether.

From around the corner, the Horseman Pestilence chuckled at what his new master had in mind for the two unfortunate souls he had nailed with a localized electrical field his armour had generated. The Master had come to the decision that the so-called 'super woman' never really had a challenge worthy of them; that challenge was other super humans. What made the whole thing perfectly comical was the fact that Dr. Akagi, in her insatiable curiosity, had inadvertently given Lord Apocalypse and Mr. Sinister the information, and research material on many of the super women, herself included.

She even had biological data on the She-Hulk and Spirit, whom are considered to be the most powerful of the super women. She had recently acquired data on Storm, and had quite a bit on the Silver Surfer. With Lilith in their possession, and even Adam himself being restored- though how that was being done, even Pestilence didn't know- The Master and his servants would be able to not only allow Pestilence to finish his own personal evolution, but they would be able to create the other Horsemen.

He had a pretty good idea about how Lord Apocalypse was going to acquire the subject who would become Famine, The Second Horseman, but as to how he was going to be changed, well, he simply was left in the dark. There were several things about his own transformation he found very hard to believe, but found to be genuine.

What he found most extraordinary was the fact that Lord Apocalypse had found a way to safely combine Adam and Lilith at the genetic level. Within him was this 'Super Angel' DNA, created from The All-Father and the Mother of Humanity. At that very moment, he was more powerful than any of his kin, even the First and Second combined, or even the super women. He had yet other advantages over everyone else that had quite an 'infectious' charm all their own.

All he had do right now, though, was simply wait until his newest helpers were ready to go. Then he'd pay a visit to a certain someone he cared quite a bit for, and then he'd pay a very harsh visit to Spirit. He'd drop in to her home, and give her a very personal lesson about respect for someone else's parents. Adam may have been an unintentional monster, but he was still Pestilence's biological parent, and Spirit was going to pay for turning him into custard, necessary or not. She wasn't the only one.

When Dr. Akagi tried to kill the former Nerv Commander, she was interrupted by a dutiful, but somewhat ditsy maid. She had wanted to EAT Adam! He'd personally introduce her to Famine when he was ready, and see how SHE liked to get chewed up and spit out. Well, chewed up, at least.

Rei was next on his hit list. She tried to blown Adam to bits when he was being transported on the Super Carrier 'Over The Rainbow'. Adam had somehow escaped destruction by being moved to a spare container Ryoji Kaji had hidden in his cabin. Pestilence wasn't sure if what the Surfer had destroyed was an elaborate decoy, or maybe something else had been at work; Pestilence could guess at what, or WHO that 'something' was.

In the end, it didn't really matter. He was going to collect the final pieces to the next Horseman, and when he did, the remaining two that followed would be quite unstoppable. With the Phoenix out there somewhere, all he had to do was track her down and assimilate just a taste of her cosmic power, and every Horsemen, himself included, would have access to the Power Cosmic, as Apocalypse called it. Even if all the other Angels were to assail the Horsemen, with the Power Cosmic, they'd run them into the ground.

Just like they were going to do to the so-called 'Super Women of Tokyo-3'.

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**Author's Notes: ****Well, folks, I hope this chapter answers some questions for you, and I hope it raises some as well. Brace yourself for the next chapter because the gals are about to get a surprise even they never saw coming, or maybe even more than one! Oh My stars and garters!**


	3. Trouble Times Three

**Disclaimer: ****Everybody knows who owns what, so please read the disclaimers from the other two chapters. Please do not sue me, I'm poor!**

**Author's Notes****: The pace is going to slow down a tad, but here we go none the less! Plus, get ready for a VERY surprising guest star!**

Soul Taker stared at a large dais surrounded by advanced medical equipment and robotic armatures, each employing a different tool, some looking rather odd, even ridiculous and some looking downright evil. On the dais was a huge chunk of bakelite that Sinister had salvaged from one of the deep freeze storage rooms in central dogma.

Sinister had said, "You know, I think it's high time we call in an 'old friend' to help deal with the super women until the Horsemen are ready to go". For all of twenty minutes, Soul Taker had wondered what in the Hell Sinister was talking about, but when Sinister brought in that huge chunk of bakelite on an anti-gravity hover cart, it clicked with the force of a sledge hammer.

The robotic tools carefully sliced away the bakelite one sliver at a time, cut into it using powerful and yet remarkably precise lasers, and even drilled into it. The armatures eventually reached what had been sealed inside the bakelite. They began to carefully cut into what Soul Taker was sure was a plug suit, that was being worn by a teenage girl. As the bakelite was further chipped and cut away, several robotic armatures began attaching monitoring devices and inserting intravenous tubes into the bare skin of the arms.

As saline solutions, stimulants, nutrient supplements, antibiotics, and God only knew what else began to flow through the tubes, several robotic arms had completely removed the bakelite from the young woman's head and most of her torso. They supported her with surprising gentleness. One arm stretched out to her and touched her chest, and for seven seconds a piercing whine could be heard coming from it.

Piston-like devices slide out of the device on the end of the arm and rammed home with teeth rattling force. A powerful electrical jolt hit the young woman's body, which actually revived her. She began to choke on the bakelite still in her air ways, but after a quick flash of a bluish light from one of the armatures and the bakelite instantly liquefied again, and was quickly coughed and/or vomited up. The young woman's blue haired head thrashed from side to side as the arms tried to get an oxygen mask on her. She tried to fight the arms, but to no avail. They were the stronger, and finally got the mask on her, and the computers began adding a vaporized stimulant to further accelerate her recovery.

There was a large chunk of bakelite still stuck to her back, so the armature with the liquefier tool moved into position. Before it could do its job, though, Soul Taker noticed a pronounced cracking noise coming from the bakelite still partially encasing the girl. He quickly understood the meaning of the sound as a beautiful pair of angelic wings exploded out of the bakelite, reducing it to a reddish powder. At the same time the wings spread to their full span, the young woman's entire body emitted a violent burst of energy that vaporized the armatures and knocked Soul Taker flat on his back.

As the smoke cleared, the young woman was standing on what was left of the dais, her arms pulled to her chest like she was lifting weights, her face to the ceiling. When she lowered her face, her ruby red eyes snapped open. She breathed slowly, taking in her first breaths of fresh air in what seemed like forever. She stared at the skull faced person on the floor, who had braced himself on his arms, and was giving her a dirty look. He quite grumpily asked, "Sleep well?"

The third incarnation of Rei Ayanami looked at Soul Taker with obvious curiosity and quirked her head. As she studied the skull-faced super human, she noticed that her own hair had grown down to her shoulder, and also felt that she being somewhat heavier than she had been previously. As Rei III tried to understand the changes her body had been put through, she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye; she readied a cross blast to fire, but stopped as she noticed the movement was a free floating full length mirror. As Rei III looked at her reflection in the mirror, she realized her sense of added weight came from her being several inches taller, and appearing several years older, maybe eighteen or nineteen.

If she was the vain type, or had an inflated ego, she would consider herself irresistible to the opposite gender, and a flawless specimen of womanhood, but since she had no such emotions, or at least had never experienced them before, she was merely curious about her transformation. The one thing she found that was unpleasant was tightness about her chest. She realized that the plug suit she was wearing was actually too small, and so began to remove it. Soul Taker was about to ask her to wait until she found herself some privacy, but a booming voice startled him and he forgot what he was saying.

"So the rumours about Rei Ayanami are true. She WAS made in a lab. Makes a lot of sense, since such a little hottie just don't come around naturally".

Soul Taker whipped around and stared at the owner of the voice, and the figure standing just behind him. The speaker, who practically obscured the other figure, could only be described as a monster. The speaker had blood red skin and had to be at least ten feet tall, and was bulging with so much corded muscle, Soul Taker was quite certain he would make the She-Hulk look positively bony by comparison. The veins near the surface of his skin were glowing with a weird violet light, but it was his eyes that got the real notice; they blazed like sun fire, and were just as furious. He wore midnight black denim jeans that looked like they were stretched almost to the breaking point and giant-sized combat boots, a black tank top and a zippered up, tan military flak jacket which was concealing a strange glowing bulge in the middle of his chest. The look was completed by Ray-Ban wrap-around sunglasses, placed atop his crew-cut head.

The other figure, while still rather tall at an even seven feet, had a much more athletic build than brutish, excellent muscle tone; Soul taker was sure the other fellow had not one ounce of fat tissue in his entire body………including the enormous bat-like wings that rose from his back. His hair was royal blue, and just like most of Apocalypses soldiers, had blood red eyes, but his face was genuinely unique. He had the same chalk white skin that Sinister and Soul Taker had, but where Soul Taker had a zombie-like face, and Mr. Sinister looked like a classical vampire with some decorative additions, this fellow had a bestial face that would instantly conjure images of a bat.

While, for the most part, his face was actually quite handsomely put together, he had a pushed up nose that was remarkably reminiscent of a vampire bat. He wore black leather pants with a silver embroidered wrap-around of the same material. The toes of silver-armoured ebony knee-high dress boots poked out from underneath the wrap-around, and bicep length armoured leather gauntlets adorned his pale arms.

Soul Taker gave each new 'convert' the visual once over and decided that introductions were very much in order. He looked from Rei III to the new comers, stretching his arm toward them to indicate them to Rei III.

"My dear lady, I would like to introduce you to your team mates. First of all, the 'gentleman' in the black and tan outfit who looks like a sun-burn advertisement gone horribly wrong is Red Hulk………"

"Hey!!"

Ignoring Red Hulk's complaint, Soul Taker gestured to the vampirish fellow that was standing to the left of Red Hulk, "and this fine fellow is Morbius. Say 'hello', Morbius". Morbius simply looked Rei III right in the eye- surprisingly it was Rei III who took a nervous step back- and languidly waved at her. Rei III had never before known emotion. Oh, she knew what emotion was, she simply didn't experience it the same way humans do. So she was suddenly caught off-guard when, not only feeling general emotion for the first time, she felt powerful, stabbing, creeping fear as she looked into Morbius' eyes. She thought that perhaps Red Hulk would not have such a perfectly unnerving stare, but she soon realized with just a subtle glance, that HIS gaze was equally as frightening as Morbius'own.

Red Hulk stomped forward, until he was no more than a single foot from Rei III. He bent forward at the hip, hands on his belt, and with a smug expression stretching his brutish face into a sickening leer, he gave Rei III a single, simple piece of advice: "You give us lip, your cute little butt am I goin' ta' rip".

He was just about to turn and walk away when he stopped and acted like he had just remembered something. He gestured with his head for Morbius to come forward. The bat faced super human smiled wickedly, fangs glistening sharply from the lights, and snickered as Rei III cautiously tried to back away from the bestial ghoul. Suddenly, he was right beside her, a tight grip on her arm, and pulled her tight to his chest. He spoke in a devilishly soothing voice, with only the slightest trace of a hiss.

"_We cannot have you going outside without being 'properly attired'. You belong to us. To Lord Apocalypse first, Mr. Sinister secondly, and of course, us thirdly. Do not think that either will be merciful if you decide to misbehave, sweet one, but what we will be is quick, yet agonizing in our judgments", _he placed his mouth just by her ear, feeling the normally emotionally cold clone shiver in fear. He whispered even more softly than he had spoken_, "I, do not want to hurt you, but to show you everything you predecessors have missed out on. Every sweet pleasure that this world has to offer, every sweet pleasure that heart longs for, even the ones that the heart does not THINK it longs for"._

Morbius chuckled huskily as he felt Rei III shiver even more, but in very different kind of way. He loved this whole emotional manipulation ability Apocalypse had given him. He was just dying to try out his other modifications when they encountered the super women. He gently took Rei III by the hand and helped her down from the dais. He offered her his arm in a rather elegant way and Rei III took the gestured arm, though with an almost palpable amount of trepidation. As Morbius led the openly nervous clone girl away, Red Hulk chuckled at his friend and walked up to Soul Taker and asked, "Well, boss? What next?"

" 'What next' you say?" Soul Taker replied. He turned away from the newest of Apocalypses soldiers and gestured to an enormous holographic screen similar to the one on the bridge of Nerv headquarters. Displayed on the screen were close-ups of two small bruises, each at the base of someone's skull head. Each bruises, upon closer inspection, were actually black patches of organic circuitry that had come to the surface of the skin. The implants were gathering data on the individuals they were implanted into. The data would allow Apocalypse himself to alter the hosts however he would see fit, and to do so very, very quickly. He would be able to make physical modifications as he saw fit, but what was most important for the operation that was to come, was for the implant to alter their hosts brain wave patterns and even brain chemistry, even going so far as to erase and alter existing memories, and even substitute false memories where it was called for.

Soul Taker grimaced at the thought of what these horrible devices were going to do to their hosts, as well as what their hosts were going to do after they were altered. They would dance to the tune that Sinister had written with Apocalypses coaching, and together the two hosts would cause as much havoc as possible while the three new additions to Apocalypses forces kicked the ever loving shit out of the super women, until either they found the Phoenix and siphoned off some Power Cosmic from her, or until Pestilence made his move. Either way, they were soon going to be sent on a 'trial run' of a sort.

"What next, you say?", repeated Soul Taker as he walked over to one of the many consoles that now littered Lilith's chamber. He began entering commands with blurring speed, and though he was loathe to do it, if Apocalypse sensed any hint of hesitation, he'd kill Soul Taker and select someone else to watch over Mr. Sinister, and that someone was probably going to be as bad, or even worse, than Mr. Sinister himself. As he entered the final commands, the screen began displaying bio-metric data of the two implanted subjects, as well as simulations that described how they would be altered, and how best to do it as quickly as possible, without causing any long-term physical damage of any kind. While such a transformation would be practically instantaneous, it would also be excruciatingly painful.

"We send a message, and that message is………change!" Whispered Soul Taker as the final command entered began one of many processes that would begin Apocalypses plans.

The very first thing being done was a call to arms to the AI programs Sinister had downloaded into Nerv's computer network. Thanks to some clever mind control work that Sinister had performed on most of the staff involved with maintaining and servicing the Magi super-computers, similar AI programs, along with nanotechnology derived from the 11th Angel, were completely restructuring the neural pathways of each Magi into something malevolent but also far more powerful.

In the time it would take for the alarms to blare three times, the entire base would become a vast singular sentient technological mind. Fortunately for Soul Taker, Mr. Sinister had already disabled the alarms and the bases fail-safe devices, so no one would be the wiser until it was far too late. The holographic display was now showing equipment modifications throughout the base, as well as powerful upgrades to the Evangelion units in cryo-stasis lock down. Very soon, Nerv would have the ability to manufacture Evangelion units by the hundreds, all in house, in a matter of hours, and each and every one of the new units would be above and beyond the originals in every way.

The most potent step of all, would be to transform the two super women implanted with the conversion drivers into unwitting actresses in a little show that Apocalypse was going to put on. They would turn on their soon-to-be former friends and drive the world in demanding action; they have control of not only Nerv Japan, but every other Nerv installation on Earth. The AI programs began downloading to the other installations disguised as everything from music files to personal e-mails to materials requisitions to porn.

Soul Taker quirked a brow at the last disguise, and shuddered in disgust, simply because the video plants would start playing the moment they were uploaded, and some of them were just plain wrong. Another thing that was just plain wrong was what Morbius had told Rei III to wear.

When the two had come returned, Rei III was wearing a particularly racy get-up that would most certainly get her arrested in certain countries. She wore a long flowing skirt made of white silk, which wasn't racy in and of itself, but it was worn down past her hips, and was attached to a blatantly visible thong by metal bat-wing shaped plates that were clipped on. She wore a waist length jacket that clung to her body like a second skin, and was completely open in front. If not for what looked like metal crescent decorative pieces, he'd be staring at her naked breasts! The jacket (if you could even call it that) was covered in spiky metal armour, with metal rings rimming each end of the multi-layered sleeves. To complete the border-line illegal outfit, Rei III wore what looked like a horned tiara in her hair that also had wicked looking, sweeping brass dragon wings on it.

Morbius spoke, as though introducing a dancer at a gentleman's bar, if such a word as 'gentleman' would be used to describe the clientele of any establishment that would force some poor girl to dress up like that. He called out, _"Good fellows! I present for your pleasures, this stunning child of deadly nightshade………Twisted Sister!!"_

While Red Hulk hooted and hollered with enough volume to cause the whole cavernous chamber to shake, whistling like a drunkard, Soul Taker had the over-powering urge to go for a gun.

'_Jesus, Mary and Joseph, that's not fucking right!' _Soul Taker mentally cursed as Morbius led 'Dark Child' around by the hand, helping her to balance as she wobbled on open-toed platform stilettos

He saw that Rei III, or 'Twisted Sister' as Morbius had dubbed her, looked perfectly mortified, having to parade herself around it that wretched get-up. His heart went out to the poor girl. She hadn't asked to come into this world, never mind be used by maniacs and sadists as some toy they could just use up and throw away, to be some life-sized Barbie doll!

Soul Taker had officially had enough, and raised both his hands. Red Hulk and Morbius noticed this and began to wonder what Soul Taker was doing, until he fired off a hellish stream of power at Red Hulk, slamming into him and sending clean across the enormous room. Soul Taker then simply walked up to Morbius and dropped him with a vicious shot to the family jewels. When Morbius hit the floor groaning in agony, Soul Taker whipped out his long trench coat and draped it around Twisted Sister, not quite covering up as much as he would have liked due to the spiky armour on the shoulders of her own revealing outfit.

He felt Apocalypses psychic voice come through like roaring thunder, but it held none of the anger Soul Taker expected; what it did hold was a staggering amount of amusement, and this put Soul Taker ill at ease. To make things even more unnerving, Apocalypses was roaring with laughter

"**So, you have decided to simply rip up your tent posts and leave? Very well, consider yourself a free agent in the universe, with my blessings of course! This could be rather amusing! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"**

"Go find some other stooge to amuse yourself with, you prick!!"

Soul Taker's final words to the mysterious super being pretty much summed up how he was feeling. He was just about to teleport himself and Twisted Sister away when a huge red blur came screaming out of nowhere, on a direct collision course with his skull. He just barely managed to duck the huge fist as a spitting mad Red Hulk tried again, but only connected with a purplish mist that was left when Soul Taker teleported away. Red Hulk was about to roar in anger when he, and the recovered Morbius, heard their masters voice in their minds.

"**Enough. Let the fool go. Besides, like he so eloquently suggested, I'll simply find another 'stooge' to serve me".**

Apocalypse had emphasized the word 'stooge' quite emphatically as he spoke, and the three transformed warriors of Apocalypse realized what he meant by that.

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Standing atop on the skyscrapers of downtown Tokyo-3 was the first of Apocalypses Horsemen, Pestilence. His dull green-grey armour reflected the setting sun quite well, for something so lacking in polish. He smiled behind his mask as he heard his master call him to action with a deceptively friendly statement:

"**Time to go say 'HI!'"**

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Misato Katsuragi was just getting home from a surprisingly easy day at the office, and had decided to celebrate and get liberally smashed. She noticed her pet penguin, Pen Pen, sitting on the table, eating some fish. Shinji and Asuka both were over to Mana's house for a sleep over, of course with Shinji on the couch, because, as Asuka put it, "You know what he's like, the pervert!"

Misato giggled at the fact that Asuka just could not, under any given circumstances, admit how she felt about the sweet-hearted cutie she roomed with. Misato walked over to the fridge to get herself the first of many beers when a massive popping sound. Followed by an electrical crackle and a cloud of what looked like purple smoke. Misato almost jumped right of her short shorts and fell on her backside, coughing and sputtering at the weird smoke.

She soon stilled when she turned around as she was trying to get up. She blanched as she took stock of the other worldly ghoul that was now squashing her couch to bits. He had huge black wings like a some kind of fallen angel, had to be at least eight feet tall give or take an inch, wore the fanciest suit of armour Misato had ever seen, and had a face like a skull, sunken eyes and all. His glowing blue eyes locked on her, and she felt a great wave of fear, the most she has ever felt, since before and after she became the She-Hulk. She felt like screaming, simply because, but she swallowed her pride, and asked, a fair amount of stuttering in her voice, "W-w-w-wha-at do y-you want?"

The bizarre being sitting on her couch stood up, almost banging his head on the ceiling, and calmly said, "Misato, My dear girl, the shit has well and truly hit the proverbial fan".

Misato stared at the odd entity for what seemed like forever, but what was in fact a few seconds. She was just about to inquire what he meant when her 'other self' spoke up from the depths of her mind, and not in a beneficial way either: "Him cute!"

"_Are you kidding me?" _Misato thought to herself as her other persona actually started ogling the creepy winged monster in the armour. She concluded her current train of thought with, _'It looks like its goin' to be one of those days! Should of grabbed that beer when I had the chance!' _

**Author's Notes: ****I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and get ready for some changes, 'cause the first Horsemen and his new team stop by and say 'hi!" Please, read and review, and don't worry about holding back just to be nice either! HAHA! **

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	4. Revelations

**Disclaimer: ****Neon Genesis Evangelion is own by Gainax Studios and Production I.G. All Marvel characters and their likenesses are the property of Marvel Entertainment and the many geniuses who brought these worlds to life.**

**Author's Notes: ****Pestilence is going to meet the Super Women, and he's not alone; plus, Soul Taker explains some things.**

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Ritsuko Akagi and Maya Ibuki had come over to Misato's apartment after they both received urgent calls on their cell phones to come over to her apartment. What disturbed them both was the fact that Misato had emphatically added, "Bring your gear". They had done just that, but when they stepped through the front door, Ritsuko quickly wished she had worn her uniform when she and Maya came over. They had just both walked through the door like regular people, though Ritsuko had warped over and Maya had flown over using first her 'human torch' powers to get so far, then she rendered herself invisible and levitated over. Fortunately for Maya, she had worn her uniform on the trip over, since it was designed to resist damage from her flame powers, not to mention her other metamorphic abilities.

Maya became visible again, with Ritsuko right behind her. Before, Ritsuko would have been frightened right out of her skin by Maya's vanishing act, but with her spider-senses, not to mention prior experience with Maya's invisibility powers when Maya first came forward with her secrets. Now, she and Maya had walked right in to Misato's living room without any warning, and when they did, the very thing that caught their attention was a skull-faced, black-winged giant sitting on the sofa. Ritsuko jumped in fright, never even having sensed the intruder, and activated her costume.

As the nano-machines began to weaver into and alter her clothing into her Spider-Woman costume, Maya had become a living fireball. They both were giving the huge ghoul the evil eye, especially Ritsuko who had transformed herself even as her costume formed. Her spidery limbs snapped and thrust as she continued to glare at the intruder, but all he did was smile at her and Maya, like they weren't a threat at all. Before Ritsuko could rip that smug grin off his face, Misato jumped between her, Maya, and the 'Thriller' reject sitting on the couch.

"Stop, the both of you! He's not here to fight!"

Ritsuko and Maya both froze where they stood and looked at Misato like she had a couple of extra heads, which wouldn't have exactly have been out of place, considering what they all went through over the last few months, and especially now. Ritsuko took a step forward and tried to pull Misato off to one side so she have a nice, quiet conversation with her old college friend.

"Are you out of your Goddamn mind?!" She screeched at her old college friend. Misato jumped back in surprise while Soul Taker was rubbing his long ears. He looked particularly annoyed at the sharp noise, and piped up, "Now that's bloody rude, yelling at Misato like that! Didn't Naoko teach you any manners, or did she skimp on that when Gendo was taking her up the ass?"

Everybody froze at that one. Soul Taker couldn't believe he had said something like that, Maya and Misato were shocked that ANYONE could just blurt out something like that, and Ritsuko looked like she wanted to introduce her boot to Soul Taker's colon. She stalked toward the giant ghoul and pulled her lips back in a blatant snarl. She just started to tense her muscles to move, when she felt a strong hand clamp down rather hard on her shoulder. She whipped her head around to look into Misato's glowing green eyes. Ritsuko calmed down rather fast.

Misato was just about to say something, when the bizarre house guest stood up straight to his full height. He caught Ritsuko's eye and walked right up to her. She had to crane her neck to look him in the eye. He knelt down on one knee and took one of her hands in his. He placed his other hand on top of hers and softly spoke, "I'm sorry about that cheap shot, my dear, but being Gendo Ikari's second-in-command, you learn things that you never want to know and things that you'd rather soon forget. What I've learned today, I so badly want to forget, not to mention has put me in a really foul mood".

"Wait a minute, what do you mean 'Gendo Ikari's second-in-command'?" Maya blurted as she took a step back from the enormous super human. Soul Taker nodded as he stepped away from Ritsuko and folded his wings behind his back. He nodded toward Maya, as to answer her unspoken question. Maya's eyes almost popped out of her pretty face as it dawned on her that this creepy super human used to be someone she respected, and even someone who had been her superior.

"Oh, come one Maya!" Ritsuko exclaimed, "Do you REALLY think that this over-blown grim reaper wanna-be is Kozo Fuyutsuki?!" She looked to both Maya and then Misato with an incredulous look on her face, but she soon realized that said grim-reaper wanna-be was now right smack in front of her. Again, she almost dropped dead from fright, but not before she listened as Soul Taker whispered things in her ear that only Nerv's former second-in-command could possibly have known, and things she once thought only Gendo Ikari himself had only known. She now realized that Misato's faith in the ghoulish super-human was not foolishly misplaced.

"Now that trust has been affirmed, its time to gather those whom are going to be affected by what I have to say", Soul taker spoke up as he moved back from the good doctor, leaving her stunned and somewhat shaken. He carefully sat back down on the couch and sighed, noticing Maya inching her way over to him. He gestured with his huge clawed hand, and Maya slowly sat down next to him.

"So", she began nervously, "how did all this happen?" She gestured to the former sub-commander, questioning about his current appearance. Kozo Fuyutsuki, now Soul Taker, began his explanation slowly.

"While I sat in my cell at The Hague, I was quite content to know that good people had prevailed against those who saw fit to take away the future from everyone on this planet, but that contentment was not to last as a powerful entity who calls itself Apocalypse came calling. I never saw a face, not even a shadow on the wall. The only thing of Apocalypse I encountered was his psychic voice roaring in my head. I had never felt anything like that in my entire life and I certainly do not ever want to experience that again. A novel sensation to be sure, but the sheer power I felt coming from the owner of that voice was so perfectly encompassing, It felt like it was coming from everywhere, to be quite direct.

"Not only power made that voice strong, but overwhelming, masterful experience and knowledge. Take for instance my transformation; Apocalypse had just to think about the biological changes he wanted to make to me and here you are a genuine super human".

Soul Taker described as he gestured to himself, beating his wings and straightening his posture. Soul Taker noticed Ritsuko giving his armor a visual examination, and was genuinely amused by her insatiable curiosity. He decided to answer some unspoken questions of hers.

"By the by, the armour I'm wearing was built by this odd contraption that came out of what looked like a snack-sized Dirac Sea portal. The suit has an on-board quantum computer system even more powerful than the Magi, defensive and offensive systems that could fight off an entire army, something called ability augmentation drivers, flight boots, the whole shot. Basically, a powered armor suit not so dissimilar from Iron Maiden's suit, but far more advanced. The ability augmentation drivers, by the way, that I mentioned, can amplify super-human ability almost one hundred times, if you can believe that".

Ritsuko was just about to blurt something out when they all heard Misato's front door slide open and some loud complaining fly their way.

"Damn it, Misato!" Asuka began to rant, "What the hell is so important that you dragged me and Shinji from Hikari's house for?! You even had us drag poor Hikari along for the ride?! Ran into a bad guy you couldn't handle on your………Gott in Himmel!!"

The teenage super hero was so shocked by the demonic looking house guest, she transformed right then and there. She was quite the sight, a genuinely supernatural creature of fire and bone standing in a defensive crouch wearing a sun dress; the silver haired, red-eyed angel standing behind the demonic girl looked equally ready for a fight. Her wings nervously beat as the much larger skull faced super human walked up to them and smiled, a smile full of long, sharp teeth that gleamed like polished steel.

"It's nice to see you again, too, Asuka, and you as well Hikari. Glad to know I can still inspire people", Soul Taker quipped. He was smiling for a very special reason. He knew that Asuka's super natural sight would allow her to instantly know it was him, no matter how extreme the physical transformation. He knew he had hit pay dirt when Asuka, after she quite literally looked into his soul, cocked her head in confusion and walked right up to Soul Taker. She looked him right in the eye, and asked, "Sub-Commander? Is that YOU? What the fuck happened to you?!"

Soul Taker, or Kozo Fuyutsuki at this particular moment, smiled warmly at Asuka and spread his arms and wings out wide.

"Quite simply, I made a deal with the Devil, and he's not done with me yet".

After Mana had shown up, she had and Asuka had exchanged apprehensive and reluctant greetings. Everybody remembered what had happened between the two and hoped it wouldn't lead to any harsh out-burst or rehashing bad memories.

Simply put, Asuka had betrayed Mana's good faith and discreetly swiped her arc reactor technology, only for Asuka herself to be betrayed by Zarathos, the spirit of vengeance that had taken up residence inside of her. He had helped Asuka reverse engineer the arc reactor technology Mana's father developed, improve it even, and apply it to her Evangelion. The betrayal from Zarathos came when Asuka had completed the three rituals of power that Zarathos had convinced her to perform; after ritual number three, Zarathos had the power to quite literally take over Hell, but he needed a body of his own to act as a conduit for all of his newly acquired might. That's where the upgraded Unit-02 came in.

It was transformed into a hellish, twisted version of itself, and acted as his new body. The only reason that they were all still breathing was the fact that they used some serious teamwork, along with help from the most unexpected source, being Zarathos' former master, Mephistopheles himself, who showed them how to seal the treacherous vengeance spirit back into Asuka so that while Asuka would get the Ghost Rider powers back, Zarathos would technically be 'asleep'. Mana had destroyed the upgrades and took what was left, but what surprised everyone involved, even Asuka herself, was that Mana was actually not angry with Asuka in the slightest.

She had said, "You helped me avenge my Father, as well as helped me personally. You got screwed over by a monster that took your dreams and twisted each and every one of them into nightmares; that's what devils do after all. The damn thing even helped you make _improvements _to my Dad's work, which in turn helped me out. Your whole life, people you got close to or opened up to either ditched you or betrayed you. You simply don't know how to trust, or how to ask for it, so you through yourself into being an Eva pilot, which personally, made things even worse. In My opinion, you've been punished enough".

After that tragic escapade had been rehashed, Shinji Ikari, Touji Suzahara and Kensuke Aida had arrived, Shinji being late in coming because Hikari's elder sister had asked him to help her move some things for moving into an apartment of her own. Shinji blinked rapidly at the goings on, Touji said a cheery hello to Mana, kissed his super human girl friend hello, and gave Asuka a genuinely friendly 'Hi', and Kensuke almost had an orgasm with being around so many beautiful super women. He was subdued a tiny portion by the absence of Rei Ayanami, the Silver Surfer. He looked like someone had stuffed his puppy into a blender, when the mercurial heroine flew in through the balcony window, doing a double-take when she saw Soul Taker. She noticed the others and spoke, "Major Katsuragi, it seems I have intruded. I had no idea you were entertaining guests".

Misato smiled nervously, scratching the back of her head. 'At least I've got plenty of drinks for every body; lots of BEER anyway', she thought to herself.

The former Sub-Commander recounted his tale of how he and Gendo Ikari had been 'interviewed' by Apocalypse, and their respective deals. Asuka and Misato both looked rather upset after hearing that the 'honorable' Kozo Fuyutsuki had decided to play 'watch dog' to a monster, now literal as well as figurative. What got everybody's attention, however, was the news that the former Nerv Commander, turned super villain, had transformed Shigeru Aoba and Makoto Hyoga into evil, super powered version of Spirit and She-Hulk.

"Are you SERIOUS?!"

That particular vocalization came from the irate Asuka Langley Soryu after hearing that small detail. The others were reacting in different ways to the news, everything from outright skepticism to being just plain nervous. Hikari's reaction in particular wasn't very cheerful when Fuyutsuki told her that not only had Rei III been revived, but had also undergone an enhancement process herself.

"Great, just great", Hikari whined, "I just barely managed to drop Rei's creepy super twin the first time, and now she's back for round two! And she's even stronger than the first time!"

Hikari clammed up, as though she had said something untoward, and looked over at the genetically engineered albino with a shamed look on her face and said, "Sorry about the 'creepy' comment, Rei".

"Do not worry, Hikari. I take no offence. My sisters do have a habit of being………unsettling, at the best of times", the soft spoken bluenette answered.

"If you think your sisters are scary, wait until you meet Red Hulk and Morbius. Both of them are not only dark, twisted version of Misato's and Hikari's alter-egos, they've been strengthened using DNA from both Adam and Lillith so they………"

"But………but that's………how'd they do it?" Doctor Akagi whispered, stammering at the sheer insanity of such a union. Mixing Adam and Lillith, even if it was only DNA samples, meant instant doomsday, so how'd they manage to combine them safely? She turned her questioning eyes to her former superior, and he answered only with a shrug.

"Adam and Lillith can be safely combined. For this process to work, there are several rather deceptively easy steps:

1) DNA from a female must be spliced into Lillith's genome, and DNA from a male spliced into Adam's genome. Tailored retro viruses are your best bet for success. The human DNA must be first treated with special mutagens designed to strengthen and, quite literally, evolve it, before you try splicing it, though.

2) After the DNA is altered through the mutagens, and spliced into the respective genomes, you irradiate them with gamma radiation to provoke even further mutation (this provoked a surprised and somewhat worried expression to pop onto Misato's face)

3) Adam and Lillith's DNA will actually combine on their own, so simply pour the two transformed angelic genome samples into an LCL/nutrient supplement mix, run some high-voltage through it, and you have instant 'super angel' DNA

"Super angel DNA will automatically integrate into any higher order life forms all on its own; after that happens, instant super being".

Soul Taker pointed at himself, and all the super women quickly got the idea, and it was quite a frightening one. Adam laid waste to an entire continent and knocked the entire planet off its axis. Lillith created life after Second Impact, and even gave rise to the human race. Someone with the power of both those beings combined was simply a terrifying concept.

As they all chewed over that shocking piece of information, Soul Taker got to his feet and strode toward the door. All the super women and the boys followed after him with their eyes, and then looked at each other, wondering just what the hell was going on, and so they got up and followed after him. They found him outside with his arms raised above his head, his ebony wings spread to their full width.

Mana slowly walked up behind the huge super being, wishing she hadn't taken off her armor for the sake of being polite. She asked in a rather small voice, "Um………Sir? What are you doing?"

Soul Taker didn't respond with words, but with actions. He floated up into the air, even as he began to glow with otherworldly energy. It began to swirl and writhe about him like a living thing, growing and expanding, swelling into a bizarre purple-red glowing cloud that was now swirling and wafting through the entire apartment complex; it even began to flow into the streets and engulf whole buildings, eventually even the whole of Tokyo-3, the entire time electricity from the city's power grid leaping from active electronics and power lines into the cloud. All of a sudden, the strange formation suddenly imploded and whipped and lashed as it went as quickly as it came, and the entire otherworldly cloud was condensed and focus into a baseball sized globe of power floating between the former Nerv Sub-Commanders hands.

The strange globe shoot into the air with such force, it created a sonic boom, the shock wave slamming into the apartment building. If not for the AT-Fields of several of the heroines, plus Soul Taker's own expansive field, the entire complex – and every living thing in it – would have been summarily pulped.

As everyone collected themselves, they looked to Soul Taker with different feelings, including foremost confusion and anger, all of which disappeared when they noticed that the entire sky was rippling and undulating like the Aurora Borealis, but with bright reds and vibrant violet in addition to the eerie blues and greens. As they each caught sight of the strange phenomenon, they noticed something else.

The stars were moving!

Even as they all watched, the stars seemed to shift and change position, but the scientists and teenage prodigy among them knew that wasn't what was happening; it wasn't the stars that were moving, but it was planet earth itself. The entire frighteningly wondrous event lasted for exactly twenty minutes, and ended with the strange rippling energy flowing down out of the sky like water, right into the transformed Fuyutsuki's bone-white hands.

It flowed and thrashed and ran like wild rapids, and even frothed like it too, and continued to do so for almost as much time as the shocking planetary movement they had experienced, though without even a single, simple tremor or even the minutest of vibration. As the last waves and streams of energy snapped and lashed as they were absorbed, Soul Taker made a show of snapping his fingers and whipping his arms out to the sides. He spun around to face his stunned audience and floated back down to the balcony.

He was greeted with slack-jawed silence and disbelieving wide eyes. He smirked and answered Mana's long forgotten question:

"I'm showing you what REAL power looks like".

The entire assembled group was staring dumbfounded at the god-like power that Soul Taker had just casually displayed with the same kind of graceful ease that a professional ballerina displays when performing a relatively simple routine. If you had asked any of them if such a thing were even remotely possible, they all would have shaken their heads 'no'.

Even now, they still could not accept that any one person, no matter how powerful they were, could actually MOVE an entire planet! With no apparent effort, at that! Soul Taker had given them a simple, single warning after he had come back inside:

"If you thought I was impressive, wait until you meet the Four Horsemen of The Apocalypse".

They had all tried to get him elaborate on who these 'Four Horsemen' were, but Soul Taker remained tight-lipped about it. Nerv's former Sub-Commander was not sitting on the floor, calmly reading what looked like a dime novel, snickering to himself every so often. He knew that Pestilence and the three super-villains that Apocalypse had created would arrive soon, but at least he'd given the girls fair warning.

Out of the corner of his left eye, Soul Taker noticed Hikari Horaki cautiously walk up to him. He turned to the pig-tailed heroine and smiled warmly; well, as warmly as one with a skull-like face could smile. Hikari looked even more apprehensive after seeing those razor sharp teeth, but she realized that there were questions that needed asking, and there were several that stuck out in her mind. She knelt down right beside the much larger super man and offered him a friendly smile.

"What can I do for you, my dear?"

Soul Taker's sudden question made Hikari jump slightly, but she composed herself quickly and looked the powerful super-human right in his ruby red eyes. She asked, "Why did you agree to be changed? I mean, I know you said so you could keep Gendo, Sinister, whatever his name is, in line, but there's got to be more to it than that".

Soul Taker nodded in agreement, and lifted his left arm up to Hikari's eye level and tapped some controls on his gauntlet. A holographic display appeared right in front of Hikari's eyes, causing her to blink in surprise, not to mention the display itself was rather bright. The display showed what were obviously the three super human soldiers, which this 'Apocalypse' character, was sending after them. One she recognized as being the third incarnation of Rei Ayanami, but now she looked older, not to mention taller, and she was wearing an outfit that made her look like a cross between a high priced stripper and a princess.

"Twisted Sister".

Hikari looked at Soul Taker with a confused look, but then nodded as she quickly realized that that was the name that Rei's third incarnation had been given. The next super human displayed looked like a nightmarish cross between a vampire bat and the mythical creature those nocturnal animals were named after, and a face that matched. He was as pale as a ghost, wore lots of leather, and had a midnight blue S2 organ sticking out of his chest, and a billowy mane of hair the same color as his S2 organ. What Hikari found the oddest were the scarlet metal spikes that stuck out of the inside of his huge bat wings.

"This fellow is called Morbius".

Soul Taker had noticed that the others were gathered around him now, looking at the images displayed and reading the data that scrolled down beside their pictures. The data was in a language that was wholly alien, not to mention being quite substantial in amount.

The final picture was of the biggest, most imposing physical specimen that any of them had ever seen, and from the looks of the image, seemed even bigger than Misato's jade-skinned alter ego. He wore all black, except for a tanned flack jacket. His blood red skin made his heavy corded muscles made him seem ever bigger than the picture portrayed. He had fiery yellow eyes that glowed like tiny suns, and with just as much ferocity. Where the other two super humans were picture with bland expressions, this monstrous super being had an evil grin splitting his huge face that reached from ear to ear, and a twisted look in his burning eyes that sent shivers up everybody's spines.

"This last fellow is the aptly named Red Hulk. Believe me, he earns the name. He has all of the She-Hulk's abilities and powers, but I have no clue as to what kind of energy empowers him".

"Man, I've had the pleasure of seeing some awesome stuff in my short life, most incredibly your moving the whole planet, sir, but these guys are in a whole new class of creepy", Kensuke Aida spoke up from just over Soul Taker right shoulder. He had climbed up to get a better look, and in fact looked like was about to pitch forward and roll right off. Kensuke had kept quite, along with Shinji and Touji who looked liked equally swept away by it all.

Soul Taker cleared his throat and finally answered Hikari's question.

"I became Soul Taker originally so I could keep Sinister from going on a killing spree. Unfortunately, that's exactly what Apocalypse wants him to do. Since that idea fell through the floor, I decided to warn you about these three, as well as the first of Apocalypses Horsemen, Pestilence".

"_You see, that's why I like you, old man. You're so considerate of others!"_

This new voice seemingly came out of thin air, but the look on the faces of Soul Taker, the now transformed Spirit, Silver Surfer, Spider Woman and Ms. Fantastic said other wise. Everyone else with super powers or other unique attributes rushed out the door to the apartment, some changing mid-dash, like Mana was re-donning her armor, and Misato was putting on a gift from Ritsuko, a 'control suit', a plug-suit like outfit that gave her near perfect control of her other self, and Asuka had literally burst into flames as the Ghost Rider and then whistled shrilly to summon her Ghost Cycle. She had changed into her Ghost Rider apparel after Soul Taker had showed off, wanting to be ready for anything ELSE that happened.

The boys ran out after the girls, but no simply to cheer them on. They had themselves come prepared in case of trouble, but each in their own way. Kensuke had his duffel bag with him, and what he took out was rather startling. It was the helmet of the Gladiator. He pulled open his shirt to reveal a silvery cross-shaped pendant with a tiny emerald at its center; Lillith had created the pendant to give the wearer of the helmet full control over its power as a payback-by-proxy for all the times she had been abused and deceived by the first angel.

It worked exactly as it was supposed to, but that didn't make using the helmet any bit pleasant. Kensuke could always hear the Gladiator persona screaming to be let out it its metaphysical prison deep within Kensuke's mind. He also remembered how perfectly angry he became when he first took control of the Gladiator body, as well as how brutally he smacked Storm around for her part in his subjugation into a perfect assassin.

He looked over to Touji, who had taken with him a vile of the extremis virus that Mana's dad had come up with as an alternative to the powered armor had developed initially. Actually, what he had was a serum containing bacteria, onto which was organically encoded the start-up software to the extremis virus. Touji had almost died saving Mana's life when he armor had been damaged. The extremis virus not only saved his life, but gave him remarkable combat abilities. The virus had also nearly driven him insane due to it lacking special control software. Mana was able stop him by uploading said software into his brain. His combat abilities had shut down, but had not been removed, rendering him normal again; at least until the activation software was applied. Mana didn't even know He had it.

Shinji had also come armed as well, but instead of super powers, he came armed with a rather sophisticated rifle. Mana had originally built it for Asuka while the two had had a 'working relationship', but Asuka gave it to Shinji 'because she had plenty', or so she had rationalized. As Touji downed the activation serum and Kensuke quickly put the helmet on, the entire group had arrived outside and was greeted by not only Twisted Sister, Morbius and Red Hulk floating on a huge disk of light, but a menacing, dull gray color metal nightmare that had six arms, the primary arms resembling huge robotic pincers with thumbs, a robotic scorpions tail, and a long flowing tattered tan cloak wrapped around its spiky shoulders.

"_Hello everyone! My name is Pestilence; I am the first Horseman of Apocalypse, and these fine folks are your new playmates! Play nice now! Sick 'um, gang!"_

The entire group braced themselves for the worst. They had not even the slightest inkling of just how bad it was going to get. They soon would, though.

**Author's Notes: **I am so sorry this took so long to get out, but I hope everyone enjoys it, and again, Read and review, and thanks to all my peers for their suggestions!


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